The team and I had a very positive visit to Havering Association for People with Disabilities (H.A.D.), a local charity which offers information, befriending and support to disabled people and their carers.
H.A.D provide a broad range of services and activities aimed at improving quality of life, promoting independence and meet people's physical, emotional and recreational needs. The building was a hive of activity when we arrived, with the team preparing for a pie and mash day, and we spoke to residents benefiting from H.A.D. services and saw the beautiful garden where people can find a quiet sanctuary.
H.A.D.'s vision is to enable people with disabilities and their carers to lead fulfilled, inclusive lives with dignity and respect, and in this vein we met with Leonard Cheshire in parliament a few days later to discuss how to get more young disabled people into fulfilling jobs.
2017 marks 100 years since the birth of the charity's founder, Leonard Cheshire, and they are running a fantastic campaign called 'Untapped Talent' to help those young disabled people who are struggling to get the advice, support and encouragement to enter the world of work - click here to learn more.
On the back of that meeting, I tabled a number of parliamentary questions to press the government for progress. I paste them below.
Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that young disabled people are able to participate in work experience. (111029)
Tabled on: 02 November 2017
Answer:
Anne Milton:
We want all young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to be able to access high quality external work placements. This is so they can benefit from real life work experience in the same way as any other student.
The Government is aware that SEND students may require more support when embarking on a work experience placement. We have recently launched a work placements Capacity and Delivery Fund which will receive £74 million in additional funding from April 2018. This will help providers boost their capacity to provide work placements from 2018/19.
We expect providers to use some of this fund, alongside other available funding (e.g., High Needs Funding), to provide additional support and any reasonable adjustments within the workplace. This will enable students with SEND to access the same quality of provision as their peers.
Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that young disabled people are able to access good quality careers advice. (111028)
Tabled on: 02 November 2017
Answer:
Anne Milton:
The Government is taking steps to improve careers education and guidance for all ages. We are investing over £70m this year to help young people and adults access quality careers provision.
The Government is also funding specialist training for careers advisers working with young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). And we will be supporting post-16 providers in developing training and materials to help young people entering the workplace.
The careers strategy, which will be published shortly, will include proposals to improve the quality and coverage of careers advice in schools. In particular, these will provide aspirational careers advice for children, young people and adults with SEND.